Hi Peter – I recently re-read your All About Wax article, and I think a dark wax might help solve a problem for me, but I can’t seem to find any. I could color the Minwax I have, but you were right, the last time I tried to buff it out on a table top my arm about fell off. Do you know of any online retailers of the wax brands you mention in the article?
The problem I have is with some old furniture I made not really matching the new leather furniture and wool carpet I bought. The new is rather cool in tone, the old quite warm. I used Watco medium walnut on wormy red oak, and it was nice, but really too golden for the room now. Would a dark paste wax tone this down you think? I’d really rather not strip the piece and start over.
Thanks for any advice you can offer!
Erich Buehler
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Replies
Hi Eric,
Two suppliers of colored wax that come to mind are;
Homestead Finishing Products
Woodworkers Supply
They both carry colored waxes. Something like Fiddes is a semi paste and very easy to work with.
However, if you have previously finished with watco, it is simplicity itself to re-do it.
Clean the surface with a little soap and water and dry well. You can use a darker watco and apply using some 600 grit paper and "wet" sand it into the surface. Dry it well a few times after you get done. Be sure and be careful with those oily rags. You can do this a couple of times if required to get the color you want.
That is the one of the great attributes of this type of finish. You can re coat at any time. This finish has it's pros and cons, this, undoubtedly, is one of it's pros.
If you have in fact waxed this surface, first remove the wax with mineral spirits. When you are wiping it down be sure and turn your paper towels over to have a clean surface. Otherwise you just redistribute the wax, not remove it.
Good luck.
Peter
Thanks Peter, that's just what I needed. I'll probably do both, the recoating with a darker Watco as well as possibly the dark wax (or I'll just try that on the next project). I do hope the Minwax comes off easier than it went on! I'll remember the tip on turning the cloth, and I do have a metal drying rack I put outside for the oily rags. Neighbors might not care for how it looks, but they wouldn't care to have embers from my house landing on their roofs either!Thanks again,
Erich
Edited 12/30/2007 12:58 pm ET by ErichB
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